Shafts orientated in parallel with one another are known from the prior art, for example for size reduction units, wherein rotating cutting blades are carried by each of the shafts, said cutting blades engaging with one another for the size reduction of the given material. Such size reduction units can be used for example for waste materials in order to reduce the particle size by means of suitable cutting and/or impact and/or shearing processes. In various embodiments, the given waste materials are mixed with a liquid before size reduction. Since the shafts orientated in parallel with one another have to be suitably arranged on bearings, devices are desirable in practice with which contamination or contact of the given waste material with the bearing for the two shafts can at least for the most part be avoided.
For this purpose, bearing units are known from the prior art, which in addition provide a sealing function with respect to the waste materials to be sized-reduced in each case. Such a device is disclosed for example by DE 694 22 660 T2. The DE specification describes a size reduction unit with two shafts orientated in parallel with one another. The two shafts orientated in parallel with one another are fixed in a sealing device, which comprises a bearing structure and a slip-ring seal for each of the shafts. The bearing structure and the slip-ring seal assigned to the same shaft are jointly combined in a sealing arrangement. If wear occurs on the slip-ring seal or on the bearing, the whole sealing arrangement has to be removed. Since experience has shown that the latter has a great mass, removal by a person is impossible to carry out in practice or can only be done with difficulty. Furthermore, in the case of smaller replacement procedures of components, the whole sealing arrangement with the bearing structure and the slip-ring seal has to be removed and dismantled, and this is often accompanied by complexity with high time consumption during maintenance and repair.
The problem of the invention, therefore, is to make available a sealing and bearing unit for at least two shafts orientated in parallel with one another, wherein maintenance and/or repair of sealing and/or bearing components can take place in a simplified manner. In addition, it is intended to make available a method with which maintenance and/or repair of the sealing and/or bearing components is simplified. Furthermore, the sealing and bearing unit is to have a simple and uncomplicated structure.